


Dating Iron Man (or Captain America)

by navaan



Series: Little Dream Vision Dress [4]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Avengers Vol. 3 (1998), Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Iron Man Vol. 3 (1998), M/M, Press and Tabloids, Secret Identity, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:01:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21864889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: The world thinks Tony is dating his bodyguard while he and Steve are settling into their relationship. (Set during Vol. 3.)
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Little Dream Vision Dress [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1402840
Comments: 16
Kudos: 152
Collections: Spicy Advent - Multi-fandom Porn Advent Calendar 2019





	Dating Iron Man (or Captain America)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [faite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/faite/gifts).



> I blame this whole thing on faite, obviously. (THIS WHOLE SERIES IS ON YOU!) This was intended as a gift to her and is also for the Spicy Advent prompt: _learning to be comfortable_
> 
> This is set in my [Little Dream Vision Dress](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1402840) series and follows [The Little Red Dress — An Epilogue to Wonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426555) but can be read as a stand alone.
> 
> Thank you so much Sylvanwitch for beta and being an amazing friend and supporting Spicy Advent. ♥♥♥ THANK YOU!

It had been a long and tiring day for both Tony Stark and Iron Man. In the morning he’d had the strangest call from Trevor Donahue. After years of business rivalry the old man had suggested a joint venture that sounded interesting — especially now that Tony had a fight on his hands at Stark-Fujikawa. Old man Fujikawa saw the latest uproar about Tony’s private affairs as an opportunity to work the company board in his favor. Up until recently Tony hadn’t cared. His money came from Stark Solutions — but only a few new contracts had come in during Ty’s smear campaigns. 

But despite the shoulder that was turning black and blue after an unfortunate fall had damaged the armor, he was feeling better now. Steve’s telling smile as he shoved a shirt and training pants at Tony made all the difference. For the first time since their relationship had started, Tony had let himself into Steve’s apartment with his own key, without calling ahead or waiting for Steve to ask him over.

“You look like you could use a massage,” Steve told Tony when he found him curled up on his favorite spot on the sofa. He had returned from his own superheroing with a cut on the cheek that someone had already cleaned or that was simply healing fast. “How about you take a shower and I order us dinner?”

Tony took the offered clothes — Steve’s, despite Tony now having at least a bag full of his own clothes stored in Steve’s bedroom — and nodded. “You should join me in there,” he suggested. “We should meet at my new place with the jacuzzi next time.”

That he’d set up his place at Avengers Tower to be shared, he hadn’t mentioned yet. Instead he intimacy of Steve’s apartment had become his sanctuary in all too tiring times — and he’d been reluctant to mention that too. It sounded too much like moving in together, making this _real_ on an even more tangible level. Which was stupid. They had been sharing a living space on and off for many years — and while this was different Tony knew it was _real_.

Sooner or later they would talk about living together.

“That sounds great,” Steve said and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Maybe when neither of us is bruised.”

“So never?” Tony whispered under his breath right after he had vanished into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Recently, a constant string of villains had it out for Iron Man or tried to get at more Stark secrets. The rumor that Tony was sleeping with his superhero bodyguard had spread like wildfire, and Tony suspected some of his enemies thought they had found Iron Man’s weakness now — Tony. Which would have been funny if it weren’t also true in a more complicated way than the rumours made people believe. 

Sometimes secret identities could be terribly frustrating.

He took his time, washed his hair with Steve’s favorite shampoo, and then gave himself a moment to relax.

Even with the running water he heard the door to the bathroom open. 

From experience he knew it took Steve three steps to the shower.

The door to the walk-in shower opened. 

He grinned. “Joining me after all?” he asked.

“Food is ordered. We have maybe 15 minutes all to ourselves.”

Tony’s grin turned into an expectant chuckle. Steve couldn’t see the heat in his gaze through the water, so there was no warning when he couldn’t wait for Steve to pull back and push his shirt over his head. Instead, he grabbed a handful of fabric and pulled Steve into the shower under the spray with him, his naked body pressed against Steve’s still dressed and now very wet form to heat things up with a kiss.

“We know you work fast when you need to,” he whispered against Steve’s lips.

“Me?” Steve asked and pulled his arms around Tony, not minding one bit when the edge of the mechanical heart pushed into his chest. “I work fast? You’re the one who started this before I even got out of my clothes.”

He grinned. “Payback,” he suggested and fluttered his eyelids. Which must look ridiculous under the hot spray of water. “I’ll dress up next time.”

“Oh,” Steve said, “I think we’ve established that I’d be just as happy with keeping you out of your clothes.”

It sounded like a promise Tony was just too happy to hold him to.

He answered with a kiss and from there things just became a hot tangle, until he found himself hoisted up and pressed against the wall, legs dangling in the air so Steve could take his place between his thighs. Tony moaned, noise swallowed by the hot water drumming against their slick skin, then mingling with sounds of flesh slapping against flesh.

He grabbed desperately at Steve’s shoulder to steady himself, to force an even deeper kiss, while Steve pounded into him, as if control had completely slipped away from him, vibrating with desire, raw and untamed, insatiable.

They were both panting, shaking, racing towards that sweet agony of completion, urging each other along with intimate awareness of a couple learning each other’s tune.

Tony came first, surprised at the sound that left his throat as he did. Steve seemed to relish it, see it as another word of praise or an invitation, kissed Tony’s throat, nibbled on his earlobe, until his orgasm washed over both of them in a near-violent frenzy.

“Did I add to the bruises?” Steve queried, as always surprisingly bashful for someone who had just done his best to fry Tony’s genius mind. He was dripping wet and finally shedding the last of his clothes — now after the fact. 

“I hope so,” Tony joked, stepping out of the shower and reaching for a towel. 

“Tony.” Steve’s voice carried real caution.

“I’m fine, Steve. More than fine now, I believe.” He winked, let Steve clean himself up, and slipped into the clothes Steve had given him. Slowly he was discovering that Steve liked him wearing his shirts. Steve had admitted it felt _gratifying_ to see Tony wear something that belonged to Steve around the flat. Intimate — like a small token of commitment that they weren’t able to show in public.

A few days ago, Tony had walked out of here still wearing one of Steve’s shirts, spiriting it away to his own place. He liked the reminder of intimacy it provided when they — as too often happened with their crazy lives — couldn’t be together like this.

His leaner form didn’t fill the shirt the same way Steve’s broad shoulders did, but it meant there was enough room for the edges of the mechanical heart to fit under it comfortably — a consideration that had become part of his life in recent months.

Finally, Steve stepped out of the shower and Tony remained standing there, watching as he toweled himself off.

They shared a smile.

“You’ll stay?” 

“For dinner? Obviously.”

“Tonight.”

“Yeah,” Tony answered quickly, not sure why his throat got so dry whenever they acknowledged the shift in their relationship casually like this. Some part of him still thought it too good to be true — even though he _knew_ he was being silly. 

He blamed it on Ty’s Dream Vision machine turnings his desire for Steve into a filthy fairytale and then using it for another level in his smear campaign, but at least part of him knew that he had trouble believing that after all these years of pining and keeping a tight lid on his crush, he was finally with Steve.

Later, after pizza and not even a quarter of a movie, Tony fell asleep with his head in Steve’s lap.

* * *

The next morning Tony got ready for a meeting with Donahue, whose health was declining but who after recent events had decided to put their business rivalry aside and back Tony. Pepper warned him that this might not be a good business connection for them and Stark Solutions, but Tony had decided to give the old man the benefit of the doubt. After all, he had come clean about his involvement in Ty’s rise to power and wealth and had helped Tony to clear his name after the Dream Vision incident had gone public.

Before he left Steve’s apartment, he took a moment to drink coffee with Steve in the kitchen. Casually, trying not to sound too eager, he explained: “I coded the new apartment to your biosignature. The one in the tower.”

Steve looked up. “Avengers Tower?”

“Yeah.” His throat constricted. “I mean all our friends know, and Janet will give anyone hell who’ll look at us strangely. We might as well…”

_Share our lives wherever we hang around most._

He cleared his throat, not sure if he should say a sappy thing like that.

“You’re offering me a key to your home?” Steve asked as if Tony hadn’t done the same thing before countless times over the years — as if he hadn’t received one to Steve’s apartment already.

“All my homes, if you want them.” 

It sounded sappier than the thing he hadn’t said, about sharing their lives.

At least Steve’s smile gave away he was thinking similarly sappy thoughts. Finally, he asked: “Which apartment has the jacuzzi?” 

Oh. Right.

Promises.

Tony was only too happy to say: “Coded to you by this evening.” He was already texting the new address — in hopes of another night of “relaxation” with his favorite person in the world.

* * *

“Are you sure you can’t make it happen?” 

It was perhaps not too surprising to run into Wayne Gordon right in the lobby of Donahue’s offices, after Donahue had told Tony he was planning a charity party. The old man had looked so unwell that a party should have been the furthest thing from his mind, but it seemed he was hell bent on spending his last months on earth settling his affairs and doing some good before it was too late.

“I’m sure Trevor will invite you.”

“I’m sure,” Tony agreed. “But I’ve done enough charity work to last me a while. I better keep my head down for a while.”

Tony as referring to his recent pictures in _Vogue_ , of course, and the good cause he’d funded with the money.

Wayne grinned his best TV romance smile. “Can never be enough of that kind of charity work. You could even bring your superhero boyfriend.”

Tony shook his head, wondering if one day he’d be able to actually bring his real superhero boyfriend _anywhere_. “My bodyguard is a busy man and we’re not…”

“Sure, sure,” Wayne said and waved his protest away with one hand, “you’re not dating. I get it. Can’t be too obvious. Shame, someone might try and steal you away if he doesn’t show his commitment.”

“Sure,” Tony said purposely misunderstanding the comment and moving towards the door, “It’s called abduction, and because people try for it frequently I have a _bodyguard_.”

“Of course,” Wayne said with a grin and then winked.

Tony wanted to roll his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation that had been brought down on him by Ty and his Dream Vision and his own clever ways of dealing with it in public.

_Table turned on you again, Tony._

“Look,” Tony said, “I would like to chat, Wayne, but...”

“Come to the gala,” he suggested. Tony had to give it to him, he had cheek and he’d been pursuing Tony with single-minded determination since Tony had publicly announced his bisexuality.

“There will be an Avengers ball. At least I hear Janet Van Dyne is working very hard on planning one.”

“Will your _bodyguard_ be there?”

“I can guarantee he’s going to be there if I am,” Tony said and felt snide but clever.

His car was waiting around the corner. He only needed to get to it to escape this conversation.

He rounded the next corner and realized his miscalculation. 

A group of reporters had gathered not too far from his red Porsche. “Mr. Stark!” the first voice called out.

Phones and cameras turned his way.

And he was standing side by side with Wayne Gordon on the sidewalk feeling like a deer in headlights.

He didn’t need to see the Viacom news van to know who had found out about his meeting here. 

“Does Iron Man know you’re meeting with an attractive actor who is known to admire you?”

To his credit Gordon looked as taken aback as Tony did at the question. 

“I can assure you that Iron Man knows everything _I_ know about my day to day life,” he muttered and turned on his heel. He knew he just needed to get far enough away to escape in the armor and _be gone_. Perhaps he felt a little bad about Gordon, who he was sure had nothing to do with Ty’s newest way of making Tony’s life that much harder.

“Come on,” he said and pulled his companion along in the opposite direction. “You wouldn’t happen to have a car?”

“So,” a young woman had caught up with them, and someone was thrusting a microphone boom over their heads, “is your lover an Iron Man in bed too?”

It took him momentarily by surprise, and he stopped abruptly, mouth hanging open. 

This time Wayne tried to pull Tony away.

Before Tony started to hurry away again, a burst of laughter broke free, though. (Later this was going to be Steve’s favorite shot of Tony on this evening’s gossip programs.)

Tony and Wayne hadn’t managed to hurry further than the next corner when a bike pulled up alongside him. He recognized the impressive figure of his lover before he spoke. “In need of saving, Mr. Stark?” Steve asked.

“Where did you come from?”

Steve _wasn’t_ wearing the uniform, but his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses and he was wearing a dark nondescript baseball cap. He looked like… a security guy or the typical SHIELD agent trying for an undercover look.

“Protecting you, Mr. Stark,” he said and grinned. 

He hoped that meant Steve had not found a disaster or mission today and had been trying to be nice and pick him up.

Tony gave an apologetic smile to Wayne and slid on behind Steve without even hesitating or apologizing to his companion. “You’ll make yourself the talk of the town. People will think you’re Iron Man.”

“Please, we both know, I’m not Iron Man,” Steve said and curtly nodded at Wayne after he’d pointedly given him a once over. “He’s in a bit of a pinch right now, but Iron Man can get your car later.”

“Yeah,” Tony replied, because, of course, Tony would get the car himself later as Iron Man or Stark, “sure. Whatever.”

With that Steve pulled them away, navigating them into the sea of New York traffic before the reporters could find a way to follow.

* * *

They let themselves into the Tower together. The apartment smelled of new furniture and fresh paint. 

“It’s nice,” Steve said and grinned, before he sat down on the massive sofa.

“Not yet very lived in,” Tony complained.

Steve grinned wider. “Because you were living with me for the past few weeks.”

Tony nodded and returned the smile. “How come you were around today to save me?”

“I thought I could pick you up and have lunch with you, but it seems you’re still too popular.”

“Not sure this is a sign of popularity or someone hoping to turn it into another scandal.”

“So,” Steve asked, grinning from ear to ear, even though his eyes spelled danger, “tell me, _is_ your lover an Iron Man in bed?”

He groaned. Not just because Steve apparently had heard what he’d been asked but also because the contained anger that hung in the question was seductive, _too_ sexy. Steve was angry on Tony’s behalf. Protective.

“Forget about that.” He practically crawled into Steve’s lap. Pressing a kiss to Steve’s cheek, he admitted: “The idea of Iron Man in love with me isn’t actually that comfortable. And not just because it seems overly narcissistic even for me.” 

The recent memory of an armor brought to life by Ultron’s corrupting influence and an accident was enough to make his skin crawl — and he’d rather be crawling all over Steve.

He should have known that even the second of his brow furrowing with the memory was enough to be noticed by Captain America, who stroked bangs of hair from Tony’s brow and looked at him earnestly. “Why?”

“Mishap. Safeguards were off. Armor became sentient. Got a little obsessed with me. Became a bit jealous, even. Spirited me away to an island.” He opened his shirt to let Steve see the mechanical heart. “It’s how I got this. I nearly died, and that Iron Man gave me his heart quite literally.” He wasn’t going into the sordid details of how the armor had nearly killed him twice over, how it had killed a man before that, letting Tony see how far it was willing to go to protect him. It had claimed at the time to want Tony safe. It had become frustrated and more and more insane, until it had trapped Tony on an island.

It had threatened his then-girlfriend Rumiko Fujikawa, too.

Jocasta, who knew from experience how painful Ultron’s brand of love could be, had told him later that it might well have been love as the armor’s newly developed consciousness understood it. What Tony knew was that the thought of Steve had given him the strength to fight back then.

“ _You_ ’re Iron Man.” Steve said voice thick and carefully reached up to touch the mechanical heart. 

“In bed too?” he asked, trying to hide the roughness in his voice.

Steve wasn’t going to be sidetracked. He let his fingers glide along the pumps and cables, let it rest above the shiny power source. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“I put it in a file, actually, but at the time it wasn’t priority.”

He tried not to sound morose. 

The heart was an ugly thing, an eyesore, much messier than the chestplate that had hidden all the scars had ever been. Charging it hurt like hell. Tony wanted to say it hurt worse than it had with the chestplate too, but he had a feeling he’d been free of the need to recharge for so long that he’d simply forgotten how bad it had been.

Steve hadn’t asked about that yet, and Tony wasn’t sure he wanted anyone to see him in that much pain. Even Steve… who so far hadn’t minded the nasty thing in chest.

“I want to know these things,” Steve said softly, his fingers resting against the metal and scarred skin.

Not willing to make promises he wasn’t sure he could keep, Tony simply nodded in acknowledgement of Steve’s wishes.

He felt like a liar anyway when Steve leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips and then whispered: “Want to find out if your lover is Iron Man in bed?” 

The words were just sultry enough to make it a little comical coming from Steve but heat instantly flared in Tony’s belly in response — like it did every time Steve showed signs of _wanting_ him like this. 

“I’m okay with my lover being Captain America in bed. Can you imagine what people would think about that?” He gave a small, mocking salute.

A momentary spark of interest flashed through Steve’s eyes.

Captain America in bed.

He couldn’t be thinking…?

God, the thought alone was making Tony hard…

Steve swallowed against his dry throat and his eyes flitted over to the bag, where he’d dropped his shield. He _had_ been thinking the same thing. 

“You like that idea,” Steve remarked. “Captain America in bed.”

“Steve in bed in any way I can get him,” Tony admitted.

Steve huffed, but he was still _very interested_. 

That promised unrestrained lovemaking that left him sore and happy for days.

Perhaps Tony could make Steve hold him down for a bit and…?

“Want to be Iron Man in bed?” Steve asked, testing the idea further. “Give me a taste…”

“No,” he deadpanned and some of his discomfort must have shown on his face, memories of the armor standing over him flickering through his mind in sudden shock. 

“I meant something else,” Steve amended, picking up on the shift in mood immediately. 

When had he gotten so good at that? And why was that even scarier than the memory of an abusive living Iron Man suit?

He was floored, staring.

Because Steve knew him well enough now to pick up on moods and masks better than ever before.

“I meant do you want to be on top and…?” 

It was an offer that Tony hadn’t expected. It was an offer that, going by the pink in Steve’s cheeks, didn’t come exactly easy to a guy who had fought to be the super soldier, the classic man on top, who still remembered how it had been to be the little guy.

“Oh,” Tony breathed and then tried to play down the wonder by asking: “You want to know if I’m living up to the name?”

A shrug was answer enough. Steve was ready for whatever he wanted to try.

It was humbling. Sweet.

He couldn’t deny he was interested.

“Another time. I’d rather you bend me over and use me _any way_ you want right now, Captain America.”

Seeing Steve flustered and turned on at the same time, was always _breathtaking_. Tony liked to pretend that it was a look only he got to see.

“Really?” Steve asked, throat so dry and laced with interest that it was husky. Then he gestured between them. “What do you think? How bad would the questions get if the media knew? Who’s on top?”

“Everyone would know who’s on top. You’re Captain America. I’m just Tony Stark.”

“And if they knew you’re Iron Man, too?”

Tony’s eyes twinkled. “They would hate me across the globe. Could I be incarcerated for desecrating a national monument?”

Steve’s eyes flashed momentarily. The insults that had been flung Tony’s way in the past few weeks had riled him up more than Tony. But lust won out over anger, and Steve pulled Tony into another kiss.

* * *

Only later in bed, when they were both sweaty and clinging to each other, did Steve whisper: “I don’t care what they say. I wouldn’t care if they knew.”

Tony kissed him, flattered, amazed at all the love and tenderness Steve showed him every day.

He didn’t whisper back. He didn’t make promises. Revealing who they were was as bad an idea as revealing what they had — and there was still the complication of Ty knowing at least half of it. 

So he made sure to kiss the sweet, romantic but terrible idea right out of Steve’s mind for now and keep him occupied by kissing a wet trail down his chest and lower, drawing an electrified groan from Steve.

“God, Tony,” he moaned, his hands tangling in his hair and guiding him with a scarily strong grip that didn’t startle or alarm Tony, only excited him more.

“At your service,” he promised, before he put his mouth to better work.

Only scandalmongers thought it mattered who ended up on top between the sheets. Tony knew you didn’t need to be Iron Man in bed to undo Captain America.


End file.
